Posted on 01/30/2011 1:26:18 PM PST by James C. Bennett
The Indian Navy ship INS Cankarso exchanged fire with a pirate vessel after two skiffs deployed from the ship were spotted on Friday morning near the Lakshadweep Isles. Fifteen pirates were taken into custody, and the ship recovered 20 fishermen of Thai and Myanmarese nationality, who were the original crew of the fishing vessel.
The skiffs were originally tracked by the coast guard and the Indian Naval Dornier aircraft, which retreated to the ‘mother pirate’ vessel Prantalay, which had been hijacked in April 2010.
The INS Cankarso (a recently commissioned water jet fast attack craft), which was already deployed in the area for anti-piracy patrol, was directed to intercept and investigate Prantalay.
The INS Cankarso initially fired a warning shot ahead of the bows of the pirate vessel to halt its progress on a westerly course. Instead of stopping, however, Prantalay opened fire on the naval ship. INS Cankarso returned limited fire in self-defence.
A fire broke out on the pirate vessel, after which several personnel were seen jumping overboard. The INS Cankarso was subsequently joined by INS Kalpeni and ICGS Sankalp. Naval and coast guard ships and aircraft are presently in the area searching for any other fishermen or pirates. This incident comes soon after a Bangladeshi-flagged merchant vessel was apprehended last month near Indian waters.
The Indian ambassador to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri, had recently presented a five-point action plan to combat the menace of piracy to the Security Council of the United Nations. In addition to the anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since October 2008, the Indian Navy and the coast guard have been maintaining vigil west of the Lakshadweep Islands, and carrying out search operations for the past couple of months. This has kept international shipping lanes in this region safe from piracy attacks, with piracy incidents seeing a 75 percent decline since December 2010.
The south-eastern Arabian Sea is a focal point of international traffic, and the security of these sea lanes in the Arabian Sea is critical to the flow of global trade.
For the first time, pirates caught on the high seas will face the Indian law. Fifteen suspected Somali pirates nabbed in a joint operation by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard will be brought to India and tried in an Indian court. They will be handed over to the Yellow Gate police today morning.
The pirates had launched an attack on MV CMA CGM Verdi, a merchant vessel flagged from Bahamas around 10.30 am. The crew spotted two high-speed skiffs approaching the vessel and alerted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) on the IBSAR radio seeking help.
A CG Dornier was flown to the spot. On noticing the aircraft, the skiffs changed direction and moved towards another vessel. The small boats were hoisted aboard another vessel, identified as Prantalay. It was the mother vessel being used by the pirates.
Prantalay tried to escape moving towards the West, but it was intercepted by INS Cankarso, a recently commissioned fast attack aircraft. After a chase of three hours Cankarso finally closed in and tried to establish contact with Prantalay on the international mercantile marine band radio. The crew did not respond.
A warning shot was fired from Cankarso above the bows of Prantalay to make it stop but and its crew started returning fire.
The pirates’ vessel caught fire in the exchange of gun shots. Naval personnel spotted people jumping off Prantaly and rescued them.
Twenty of them were Thai and Myamarese fishermen. They were held hostage on the vessel since April last year when the vessel was hijacked.
Fifteen pirates were also nabbed and taken into custody. A senior defence personnel said there had been several instances where pirate attacks were thwarted but crew members of the vessels asked naval personnel to release the pirates fearing that they would attack them later.
“Moreover, if the attack happens in international waters nothing much can be done against the pirates,’’ he said.
11 pirates killed as Navy sinks hijacked ship
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110130/main1.htm
New Delhi, January 29
In a major strike, an Indian naval warship, acting in self-defence, has sunk a hijacked ship that was being used by pirates in the Arabian Sea. A total of 11 sea brigands are feared killed while 15 of their accomplices have been captured alive and 20 hostages have been freed from the clutches of the pirates.
The pirate vessel, a hijacked Thai fishing trawler MV Prantalay, was being used by the sea robbers to launch attacks near the Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea. A major sea shipping lane called the 9 degree channel passes just north of the Islands. The incident occurred last night some 200 nautical miles (360 km) west off Kochi in Kerala, Indian Navy spokesperson Commander PVS Satish confirmed this morning.
MV Prantalay was being used by the pirates since April 2010 and was involved in several piracy incidents. The Indian naval ship INS Cankarso, a water jet propelled fast attack craft that can travel at speeds of 35 knots, carried out the operation. The naval crew and the ship, which was inducted in June 2010, are safe, officials confirmed. This ship was later joined in by INS Kalpeni and Coast Guard Vessel CGS Sankalp.
The chase for MV Prantalay started yesterday morning on the high seas when the pirates had used the ship in a piracy bid some 220 miles off Kochi. The attempt was to take over a 73,000-tonne merchant vessel MV CMA CGM Vedri, but it was foiled by the Navy and the Coast Guard. The pirates, using small fast speed skiffs, made good their escape and boarded MV Prantalay.
By 5 pm yesterday, INS Cankarso closed in on the pirate ship and made efforts to establish communication on the international Mercantile Marine Band, but there was no response. In keeping with internationally accepted norms, INS Cankarso fired a warning shot well ahead of the pirate ship to compel her to stop. Instead of stopping, the pirates opened fire. The return attack of the Navy caused a fire in the pirate ship.
The Navy men then released 20 fishermen of Thai and Myanmarese nationality. They were the original crew of the fishing vessel and were being held hostage for several months.
Yesterday’s incident is the second major score for the Navy since it was tasked, some two months ago, to focus on pirates operating some 400-500 miles away from India’s western shoreline. In late November last year, the Navy had apprehended 14 Pakistanis and five Iranians on a dhow sailing suspiciously in the area.
The pirates, under pressure from international navies operating off the coast of north-eastern Africa and the Gulf, have started moving closer to the Indian coastline. The Defence Ministry has ordered three warships on permanent patrol and has also opened a new Coast Guard station on the Lakshadweep Islands.
Separately, the Navy, since it was deployed in the Gulf of Aden in October 2008 has foiled some 27 piracy attempts in the international waters.
Link between pirates, ultras: Intel agencies
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 29
In what could be a nightmare for India and also for other countries, Indian intelligence and security agencies and the Indian Navy have warned that pirates operating in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean have definite links with terrorist organisations like the Al-Qaida and the Laskhar-e-Toiba.
Well-places sources confirmed that sleuths have warned of links between pirates and terrorists with the possibility of the two sides working in tandem. This emerged at a closed door, meeting of all stake-holders on coastal security on January 21 at Mumbai. This meeting was attended by representatives of the Navy, Coastguard, and security agencies working under the Home Ministry, besides the shipping, fisheries and finance ministries. “Pirates, who are anyway gun-toting mercenaries working for a ransom, can be picked up by terrorist organisations to launch a terror strike using the sea route like the one on Mumbai in November, 2008”, a source said while narrating a warning that emerged at the meeting. In the past, Naval warships doing anti-piracy patrols have noted that “maritime comfort-level and competency of the pirates has improved and is much superior”. This indicates that land based capability is backing the efforts of the pirates on the high seas.
Pirates have developed significant support structures whereby they are able to hold hijacked ships and crew hostage for months. This could be catastrophic in case of hostage situation like the one faced in 1999 at Kandahar when IC-814 was hijacked, opined a functionary.
The assessment is based on facts that pirates now operate from big ships which they hijack at high-seas. Indian security agencies have also briefed the top brass on the military and political side.
Last month, the Navy issued an alert asking all fishing vessels and merchant ships plying on the western coast to maintain a safe distance from Indian naval ships. The Navy fears that explosive-laden fast boats and trawlers could be rammed into a Naval ship to explode it. US Navy and French Navy ships also operate in the Arabian Sea.
Four days ago Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s ambassador to the UN had conveyed to the Security Council a five-step approach to tackle piracy
India wants tracking of the trail of ransom money to different parts of the world, prosecution of the beneficiaries of ransom money for abetting piracy, conduct of naval operations under the UN, sanitation of the Somali coastline through identified corridors and enactment of national laws to criminalise piracy.
Security agencies worry at the easy flow of money accruing from the ransom in lieu of ships and hostages. The latest international study by a London-based think tank estimated the total of ransoms paid to pirates in 2009 and 2010 at $425 million (Rs 2,200 crore approx). The study pegs the sum at $830 million when costs of negotiations and delivery fees were added.
The average ransom for each ship has gone up. In 2010 it was $5.4 million, compared to $3.4 million in 2009 and $150,000 in 2005, says the study. Already, shipping costs in the Indian Ocean have risen resulting in world economic losses estimated at $7 billion annually.
Piracy bid foiled off Kochi coast by Indian Navy, 15 Somalis arrested
Rahul Singh, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 29, 2011
In the first major anti-piracy operation closest to India’s shores, the Navy and Coast Guard on Friday sank a pirate ship near Lakshadweep, rescued 20 fishermen and arrested 15 Somalian pirates. The big catch comes two months after the navy launched its biggest anti-piracy drive off India’s west coast.
The pirates had been on the prowl in the eastern parts of Arabian Sea since last April after they hijacked a Thai vessel, Prantalay, and were using it as a mother vessel for carrying out a wave of attacks on merchant vessels. INS Cankarso, a fast attack craft, intercepted the mother ship 370 km off the Kochi coast on Friday evening (around 5 pm), but the pirates opened fire with automatic weapons in a desperate bid to escape. Prantalay burst into flames and sank after the navy retaliated with “limited fire in self defence.”.
A navy official said Cankarso fired a warning shot in keeping with internationally accepted norms after efforts to establish communication with Prantalay failed. But instead of stopping, the pirates began spraying bullets from their Kalashnikovs. Fuel drums onboard Prantalay exploded when the navy struck back.
The chase lasted around seven hours. Within minutes of receiving a distress call from MV CMA CGM Verdi, a Bahama-flagged container ship, on Friday morning (10.30 am), a coast guard Dornier aircraft spotted two skiffs (speedboats) attempting a piracy attack. The skiffs aborted their mission and dashed towards the mother vessel sensing trouble from the skies.
“Prantalay hurriedly hoisted the two skiffs onboard and set a westerly course to escape. It was clear that the vessel was a pirate mother ship,” said the official. Navy and coast guard Dorniers kept tracking the mother ship and gave its coordinates to Cankarso for delivering the final punch. It was already deployed in the area for anti piracy patrols. The fishermen rescued by the navy are of Thai and Myanmarese origin. The pirates are likely to be brought to Mumbai for legal action. INS Kalpeni and Coast Guard Ship Sankalp also took part in the operation.
Defence minister AK Antony inaugurated two coast guard stations in Lakshadweep last month, reinforcing India’s maritime security architecture.
The navy had launched four warships last November to sanitise the eastern parts of the Arabian Sea after a spurt of piracy attempts reported by transiting merchant vessels. Helicopters and patrol aircraft are supporting the warships, with marine commandos onboard. The navy has chased away a few mother ships from the area in the last two months. It had been on Prantalay’s tail for a while but the pirates may have managed to give the navy a slip a few weeks ago.
The navy has been carrying out anti-piracy patrols in the international waters off the Gulf of Aden since October 2008.
Interesting. Somali pirates have moved way east.
15 pirates seized in Arabian Sea
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/01/30/41918882.html
A pirate vessel was sunk, 15 pirates were captured and 20 Thai and Burmese fishermen were freed as a result of an operation launched by the Indian Navy in the Arabian Sea.
Last April, pirates seized a Thai fishing trawler and have being using it to attack other ships. The crew have been held hostage throughout all that time.
Last year alone, the pirates hijacked 49 vessels and took more than a thousand sailors prisoner. An international anti-piracy coalition was formed with Russia among its active members.
finally.
BTW, why did no other country ever go after the mothership??
It’s about friggin time!
Great news.
Somali pirates are terrorists.
Open season on Somali pirates.
(think of the Chuck Jones cartoon starring Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny...”shoot me I’m a fiddler crab, it’s fiddler crab season”...which by the way was one of the funniest of all the Warner Bros cartoons)
Obama is an E-1 in an O-10 world.
“A total of 11 sea brigands are feared killed while 15 of their accomplices have been captured alive and 20 hostages have been freed from the clutches of the pirates.”
SERIOUSLY, who thought that in 2011 they would be reading the above in a news article ?????????????
Feared?
Good, this is the way to deal with them!
Obama is an E-1 in an O-10 world.
Exactly!
Way to go, India!
At least someone understands how the game is supposed to be played.
Those that survive can become taxi drivers in Minnesota.
It's comforting to know that ONE country has eschewed "political correctness" insanity, and put the safety of its citizen above irrational timidity.
Since time began, the punishment for piracy is instant execution. On the spot.
Now, more than ever, the traditional penalty is the only hope of eradicating the African idiots.
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